Mercadet Part 3

Goulard Ah! you are going to marry your daughter--

Mercadet To the Comte de la Brive; he possesses as many thousand francs as he is years old!

Goulard Then if he is up in years, there is reason for giving you some delay.

But the thousand crowns--the thousand crowns--never.--I am quite decided on that point. I will give you nothing, neither delay nor--I must go now--

Mercadet (with energy) Very well! You can go if you like, you ungrateful fellow!--But don't forget that I have done my best to save you.

Goulard (turning back) Me?--To save me--from what?

Mercadet (aside) I have him now. (Aloud) From what?--From the most complete ruin.

Goulard Ruin? It is impossible.

Mercadet (taking a seat) What is the matter with you? You, a man of intelligence, of ability--a strong man, and yet you cause me all this trouble! You came here and I felt absolutely enraged against you--not because I was your friend, I confess it, but through selfishness. I look upon our interests as identical. I said to myself: I owe him so much that he is sure to give me his a.s.sistance when I have such a grand chance--like the one at this moment! And you are going to let out the whole business and to lose everything for the sake of a paltry sum! Everything! You are perhaps right in refusing me the thousand crowns--It is better, perhaps, to bury them in your coffers with the rest. All right! Send me to prison! Then, when all is gone, you'll have to look somewhere else for a friend!

Goulard (in a tone of self-reproach) Mercadet!--my dear Mercadet!--But is it actually true?

Mercadet (rising from his seat) Is it true? (to his wife) You would not believe he was so stupid. (To Goulard) She has ended by becoming a daring speculator. (To his wife) I may tell you, my dear, that Goulard is going to invest a large sum in our great enterprise.

Mme. Mercadet (ashamed) Sir!

Mercadet What a misfortune it will be if it does not turn out well.

Goulard Mercadet!--Are you talking about the Ba.s.se-Indre mines?

Mercadet Of course I am. (Aside) Ah! You have some of the Ba.s.se-Indre stock, I see.

Goulard But the investment seems to me first-cla.s.s.

Mercadet First-cla.s.s--Yes, for those who sold out yesterday.

Goulard Have any stockholders sold out?

Mercadet Yes, privately.

Goulard Good-bye. Thanks, Mercadet; madame, accept my respects.

Mercadet (stopping him) Goulard!

Goulard Eh?

Mercadet What about this note to Delannoy?

Goulard I will speak to him about the postponement--

Mercadet No; write to him; and in the meantime I will find some one who will buy your stock.

Goulard (sitting down) All my Ba.s.se-Indre? (He takes up a pen.)

Mercadet (aside) Here you see the honest man, ever ready to rob his neighbor. (Aloud) Very well, write--ordering a postponement of three months.

Goulard (writing) Three months! There you have it.

Mercadet The man I allude to, who buys in secret for fear of causing a rise, wants to get three hundred shares; do you happen to have three hundred?

Goulard I have three hundred and fifty.

Mercadet Fifty more! Never mind! He'll take them all. (Examining what Goulard has written.) Have you mentioned the thousand crowns?

Goulard And what is your friend's name?

Mercadet His name? You haven't mentioned?--

Goulard His name!

Mercadet The thousand crowns.

Goulard What a devil of a man he is! (He writes.) There, you have it!

Mercadet His name is Pierquin.

Goulard (rising) Pierquin.

Mercadet He at least is the nominal buyer.--Go to your house and I will send him to you; it is never a good thing to run after a purchaser.

Goulard Never!--You have saved my life. Good-bye, my friend. Madame, accept my prayers for the happiness of your daughter. (Exit.)

Mercadet One of them captured! Now watch me get the others!

SCENE SEVENTH

Mme. Mercadet, Mercadet, then Julie.

Mme. Mercadet Is there any truth in what you just now said? I could not quite follow you.

Mercadet It is to the interest of my friend Verdelin to cause a panic in Ba.s.se- Indre stock; this stock has been for a long time very risky and has suddenly become of first-cla.s.s value, through the discovery of certain beds of mineral, which are known only to those on the inside.--Ah! If I could but invest a thousand crowns in it my fortune would be made.

But, of course, our main object at present is the marriage of Julie.

Mme. Mercadet You are well acquainted with M. de la Brive, are you not?

Mercadet I have dined with him. He has a charming apartment, fine plate, a silver dessert service, bearing his arms, so that it could not have been borrowed. Our daughter is going to make a fine match, and he-- when either one of a married couple is happy, it is all right.

(Julie enters.)